Computer systems may include a variety of hardware and software components. Hardware components may include, for example, different forms of memory, data storage devices, and the like. One or more hardware components, such as memory components including, for example, random access memory (RAM), may include or develop defects. One technique that may be used in connection with determining problems with memory includes performing memory diagnostics. Memory diagnostics may include execution of a variety of different tests to assess the health of one or more memory components.
Existing memory diagnostic techniques may have one or more drawbacks. In order to execute memory diagnostics on a computer system, the computer system may be required to be rebooted so that any ongoing tasks, such as may be performed by an executing application, are interrupted. A user may have to modify settings so that the computer system boots up from a particular device using a special boot disk which may vary from the typical boot sequence. Additionally, while the memory diagnostics are executing, the computer system may be unavailable for performing other tasks and operations. The memory diagnostics may also take an undesirable amount of time to complete. Furthermore, the results of the memory diagnostics may not be in a form understood easily by users with varying skill levels.